Bulgaria‘s broadcaster BNT has today revealed details of BG Song 2018, its internal selection process for Eurovision 2018. And they’re sticking with what works. BNT will again seek to enter into partnerships with interested performers.

Today BNT confirmed that they are essentially using the same internal selection process as last year. The broadcaster is looking for acts to submit not just a song, but an entire project. They are specifically looking for a budget and plans for staging.

On top of those requirements, the broadcaster is specifically looking for an act that is a team player, someone who “actually can sing or compose”, and a project with a “worthy message”.

BNT isn’t able to fund the project solely on its own, and it wants a label and producer willing and able to fill in any shortfall.

And just like last year, the broadcaster is only interested in entries from people — both artists and producers — who have substantial experience in their field. This is not amateur hour.

BNT also requires some level of Bulgarian involvement in the song itself, so there’s no chance of things being entirely outsourced to other countries. The performer must be a Bulgarian citizen who is experienced with live performance experience.

And the broadcaster also requires details of the staging — storyboards, number of performers, plans for the LED backdrop.

The broadcaster admits this selection process could make the selection off limits for some artists, but they emphasise that they’re not in a position to run a fully open national selection and that their emphasis is on quality entries rather than a large quantity of entries.

The entry period is open now and will close on 20 December. This gives interested acts just over one month to come up with a killer entry.

Once entries close, the songs will be tested with different focus groups, both Bulgarian and international.

BNT introduced this selection process in 2016 when it was seeking to select an act following Poli Genova’s impressive comeback in Stockholm.

The broadcaster shortlisted five songs, which were then assessed by an international focus group. In the end, it was Kristian Kostov’s ballad “Beautiful Mess” that was selected.

It went on to place second in Kyiv, delivering Bulgaria its best every Eurovision result — and tantalisingly close to a win. With two top-five finishes in two years, the pressure is on for Bulgaria to again deliver the goods.

What do you think? Who would you like to see represent Bulgaria at Eurovision 2018? Can Bulgaria win in Lisbon? Share your thoughts below!

Robyn Gallagher

Robyn Gallagher contributed this report from New Zealand. You can follow Robyn on Twitter @robynesc. Keep up with the latest Eurovision news and gossip by liking our Facebook page and by following the team on Twitter @wiwibloggs.

25 Comments

TeamPreslavaNovember 16, 2017 @ 1:24 am

For next year Bulgaria need to win and they can win only with Preslava! I hope they will send Preslava at Eurovision! Like in 2016 Preslava is the real winner but BNT don’t like Planeta Tv and because of this was not choose her!!! This time it’s need to be Preslava!!!! Only Preslava can winning the Eurovision for Bulgaria. She will be more better Iveta haha

Preslava is part of the Payner Music Label and the BNT’s rules of the contest are saying that only artists and labels that are part of PROFON artist organization are allowed to participate. Payner Music is not part of Profon, which means that Preslava or any other Payner artist are not allowed.

Interesting. From this article it looks like to me that BG is looking to step up the game a notch by selecting an act with a strong artistic identity, which was not the case last year, (in spite of the indisputable quality of the song and the performance) and not necessarily a ready-made product from Sweden or Russia. That might be the reflection of the change in administration of the broadcaster, which changed some months ago, right? But maybe I am reading too much into it… 🙂

We did some analysis in April and figured that Bulgaria would indeed benefit from Russia’s absence. But this was partly because “Beautiful Mess” was such a strong song. Realistically, it would have always got high points. If Russia had been in the game, a few countries might have given Russia 12 points and Bulgaria 10 – but Bulgaria would have still delivered a strong result.

Nah. I don’t think Gery-Nikol would be allowed to compete because of her antics. Take a look at the content found in her music video for “Momiche Kato Men”. She was only 17 when that song was released, and the outfits she wore in the video were too inappropriate for a teenager. Nevertheless, the video was controversial as hell! So I can’t see Gery-Nikol taking part at Eurovision! 😮

Let’s be real, they’ll probably send another Virginia Records artist, which is totally okay if said artist is someone who can deliver like Dara. Of course, I’d rather have them sending Gery-Nikol who started the whole current pop wave in Bulgaria, but they would never send her because a) she’s on an independent label and b) she’s a messy queen. Either way, today’s Bulgarian pop music is super interesting and different from mainstream music in the rest of Europe, so if they send a song of that genre they could export the trend outside of the country.

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